


Everything I Need

by Hfiorella18



Category: Aquaman (2018)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-17
Updated: 2019-01-21
Packaged: 2019-10-11 20:33:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17453822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hfiorella18/pseuds/Hfiorella18
Summary: Picking up after Sicily, the daring tale of Aquaman takes a different turn.





	1. Prologue: The First Born

Arthur Curry knew that he wasn’t exactly normal. He was freakishly strong, had extraordinary swimming capabilities, and could breathe underwater. Those were the perks of being half Atlantean. Yes, apparently, he was the rightful heir to the throne of Atlantis, first-born son of Queen Atlanna. Not that this had ever been relevant considering the people of Atlantis had killed his mom, simply for bearing a half-breed. Nevertheless, he somehow found himself visiting the city he had carried so much contempt for ever since he was a teen. 

On top of that, he had jumped out of a moving airplane with no parachute and wandered through the Sahara Desert. All this because of a crazy redhead. Mera saved his father’s life even after he told her that he wouldn’t help stop the upcoming war between the surface dwellers and the people of Atlantis that his half-brother so desperately wanted. Hard to complain though. She was basically the badass version of Ariel, plus she had some magic water manipulation power or whatever it’s called which was awesome. This little whirlwind of an adventure eventually spit them out at Sicily. 

And that’s where everything went to shit.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Mera was born and raised in the depths of the sea. She was royalty, and never thought that she would come to the surface to betray everything she knew. Betrothed to war-craving, power-hungry King Orm Marius, she sought his half-breed brother, Arthur Curry to claim his rightful place at the throne to stop this needless war before it started. When she got to him, things hadn’t gone quite as planned. Lucky for them, they were both still alive for the time being, travelling across the world to find the trident of King Atlan. 

Although Arthur clearly lacked the knowledge and skill of your average Atlantean, he surprised her with his vast knowledge of the surface worlds history. What impressed her most, was that Arthur found the path to the trident that they had to follow using his brain, the bottle, and the statues. In disbelief, she climbed the statue to see with her own eyes what he had discovered. She went to get down but slipped. Arthur caught her and steadied her on her feet. She looked up and smiled at him, feeling proud, impressed, and maybe something else? They both inched closer, closer…

And that’s where everything went to shit.


	2. Bells are Ringing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Picking up after Sicily, the daring tale of Aquaman takes a different turn.

An explosion sent both Mera and Arthur flying backwards. Regaining their balance, the smoke cleared just enough for them to be able to identify their assailants. Mera was not surprised to find that a squadron of the Atlantean guard had come after them. Oddly, there was one that she couldn’t recognize. The leader of the pack had on black Atlantean gear, but it was… different. The one clad in black looked at Arthur. 

“I’ve been waiting for this moment, Aquaman.”

Mera looked to Arthur, not letting her guard down. “You know him?”

Arthur shook his head. “Can’t say that I do.”

“Oh, he does. Let me refresh your memory. And in the meantime, you can call me Black Manta.” 

As soon as he finished his sentence, the eyes to his mask glowed red, and shot a plasma blast right at Mera and Arthur. Arthur jumped in front of Mera, pushing her out of the way. Hit square in the chest, he went flying hundreds of yards away. Black Manta activated the jets on his boots and flew after him. 

Mera started to panic. She ran to go after him but was cornered by the guards. Stealing one of the guard’s weapons, she fought them, until she had enough time to escape and save Arthur. With only one guards trailing her, she ran throughout the town, following the path of destruction Black Manta had left in his wake. 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“I remember you now. I thought I told you to not make getting your ass kicked a habit,” Arthur taunted. He stood up, inspecting the burns on his arms. 

“I’ve upgraded, as you’re sure to find out.” Black Manta warned. 

They both exchanged a few solid blows, when Arthur got his leg kicked out from underneath him. He fell back and was hit with another blast, sending him off the cliff and into the center of the most populated part of the town. 

He got up, panting. He brushed his hair out of his face and grunted. This guy was not about to beat him up like this. For a moment, he had the upper hand in the fight. Black Manta ran towards Arthur, but Arthur was prepared this time. With three punches to the helmet and a heavy kick to the chest plate, Black Manta stumbled backwards. 

Arthur straightened, and stalked towards Black Manta triumphantly. 

“So how about you get on out of here? I would hate for there to be a repeat of the last time we met.”

Black Manta glowered. He took a tentative step backwards, then paused when Arthur’s attention suddenly snapped elsewhere. Out of the corner of his eye, Arthur saw a flash of red hair on a nearby roof. 

Black Manta took advantage of the distraction and lunged forward, plunging a blade into Arthur’s left shoulder. Arthur roared in pain, and sent his enemy flying backwards. Turning back to where he last saw Mera, he noticed several chimney’s and shingles from the rooftops were destroyed. 

“Shit.” He grabbed his bleeding shoulder and ran off to find Mera.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mera was holding her own, the Atlantean guard wasn’t an overwhelming force by any means. Unfortunately, she wasn’t aware that back up was on the way for him. Jumping off the roof she landed in front of a cathedral with an enormous bell in the tower. The guard was nowhere to be found. 

Arthur had followed the same path Mera had. He turned to take a different route when he saw another squadron of Atlantean guards were farther along the maze of rooftops, clearly following Mera. 

To get a better view, he made his way towards the highest tower of the cathedral. When he made it into the bell tower, two things happened.

Mera caught her breath, when the missing guard landed in front of her, accompanied by six more. Snagging one of their weapons, she cut the water supply, two of the guards flailing about like a fish out of water. With two down and five to go, she surveyed her surroundings, looking for any vantage point. She looked up and saw that Arthur was up by the bell tower, looking in her direction. She didn’t have enough time to yell at him to look out before Black Manta flew up behind him and sent a massive plasma blast at Arthur.

BRIINGGG

Arthur jumped mostly out of the way. The bell took the brunt of the blast and went flying down towards citizens, Mera, and company. Luckily, Arthur made it safely to the ground before the bell did. Sprinting, he bodied the bell, sending it soaring away from a little girl that it was about to crush. He winced, nearly forgetting about the stab wound in his shoulder. 

Luckily Mera had dived out of the way of the bell Arthur had deflected. Three of the Atlantean guards weren’t so lucky. Silently thanking him, Mera went on the offensive against the last two guards. With Black Manta still on the attack, she wanted to be rid of the pesky guards as fast as possible. She burst a water pipe, using the water to make herself a knife. With one swift strike she impaled the closet guard in the chest. 

Arthur had started ushering the citizens into the cathedral, not wanting the body count to include anyone other than the troublesome guards and Black Manta. Some guy was trapped under a huge block of fallen cement. Arthur lifted the massive piece and ushered him to safety. Stupidly, he had his back turned for too long. Black Manta crept up behind him and shot a plasma charged mini harpoon right into his back. 

Mera had been fighting the last, most skilled guard with a sword she had created out of water. Now to hold this type of hydrokinetic form, she had to be fully concentrated. When she heard Arthur cry out, she lost all focus. Whipping around to see Arthur, the guard got the better of her. He stood behind her, blade pressed to her back.

“Don’t move,” he said. 

Mera complied, mostly because she had to stay alive to make sure Arthur got out of there. 

Arthur stood up, gritting his teeth. He tried to remove the charged harpoon from his back, but couldn’t reach, especially with his wounded shoulder. Black Manta laughed, pulling him closer by the cord. 

“Not so great out of water, are you?” Black Manta taunted. 

“Asshole.”

Black Manta flicked his arm, and another blade emerged. In the blink of an eye, he stabbed Arthur in the right side of his abdomen. Arthur sucked in a sharp breath and dropped to his knees.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all of your support so far! I swear I'm going to try to update as regularly as possible, but that won't always be the case. Thank you for your patience and I hope you enjoyed this chapter which is definitely longer than the prologue. Yay! Let me know what you think and stay tuned for the next chapter.


	3. Revenge Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Picking up after Sicily, the daring tale of Aquaman takes a different turn.

“NO!” Mera shouted, struggling from the guard’s grasp. 

Black Manta looked at her, and then looked back at Arthur who was clearly fighting to stay conscious.

“You need to let him go,” Mera almost, almost begged. “Please.”

“Like he let my father go, when he left him to die? I don’t think so princess.”

“I’m not a princess. You don’t understand! Atlantis and your world need him. Both will be destroyed if you don’t let him go.” 

“I don’t care. I came for revenge, and that’s exactly what I plan on getting.” He wasn’t planning on letting this opportunity go, no matter the cost. 

As he was about to drag Arthur away back to his ship, Mera surprised him. 

Staring at him, eyes unwavering, she said, “Take me instead.” 

Arthur tensed up and attempted to stand. “Absolutely not.” 

Black Manta yanked him up to his feet. “You heard what he said princess. No deal. I do admire your spirit however, so I’ll make you an offer. I’ll allow the guard to release you even though you’re wanted for treason in Atlantis once Arthur and I make it safely to my ship.”

Mera looked frantically at Arthur. He looked awful. He was bleeding from his shoulder and abdomen, with burns on both if his arms and chest. He still had the harpoon lodged in his back, tethering him to his captor like a dog on a leash. She couldn’t help Arthur if she was dead. Clenching her fists, she spoke. 

“Deal.”

Then to Arthur, “I’m so sorry. Hang on, whatever you do.”

Satisfied, Black Manta clocked Arthur in the head, making him pass out. Mera bit her lip, forcing herself to relax. Black Manta called up another group of guards to help him bring Arthur to the ship. Mera watched as Arthur disappeared into the wrecked village, making their way to the water. When the guard stepped back, essentially telling her she was free to go, she turned and crushed his water supply tech.

Crouching down, she buried her head in her hands for only a few moments, allowing weakness to show through. She cried. She cried because she failed. She failed the mission, and Atlantis, and the surface world. Worst of all she failed to protect Arthur. When she ran out of tears, she stood up and wiped her eyes, determination settling over her. 

Mera was furious and a force to be reckoned with. 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Arthur slowly opened his eyes, trying to survey his surroundings. He realized he was shackled, almost like he was back in front of Orm. The only difference was, his  
arms were above his head, strapped to a table of some sort. He was upright, so the table must have been slanted. Recalling what happened, he started to panic. The last thing he remembered was Mera, still being held by the last Atlantean guard. 

“Mera,” he rasped. “Where is she?” 

Black Manta swiveled around in his pilot’s seat, his mask off. He grinned. 

“So, the prince awakens. Don’t worry, your companion is safe. Or, at least she was when we left her. You see, you’ve been out for a few days now.”

Arthur glared at him, not sure if he was telling the truth or not. “Why haven’t you killed me yet?” he managed. 

Manta had unsheathed the dagger his father had given him just before he had been killed. 

“I thought about it. I decided I’d rather watch you suffer, like my father did.” He got up and walked up towards the Aquaman. He pressed the blade to his neck, until beads of blood appeared. Arthur tried to pull back and was breathing heavily. Manta let out a dark laugh at Arthur’s reaction. 

“We’re going to have a lot of fun, you and I.”  
\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mera had left Sicily, choosing the water where she was most familiar. In reality, she had nowhere to go. She couldn’t go to the Kingdom of the Trench without Arthur. She couldn’t go back to Atlantis without either. Her only option was to find Arthur and make sure he was safe. Too much was riding on them for them to fail. 

She had no clue where Black Manta’s ship had gone, but she assumed it was in a constant state of movement. It was too risky for him to stop anywhere for a long period of time, so they had to be pretty far away. 

After about two and a half days of roaming the waters, searching for any type of ship, she hit the jackpot. An advanced underwater ship shaped like a manta was moving about a hundred yards away from her.

She prayed that Arthur was still onboard, and that he wasn’t any worse off than when she last saw him. Now she just had to figure out how to get in without getting caught.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Unbeknownst to Mera, her prayer was in vain. Arthur was a bloody mess and much worse than he was three days ago. His back wound was infected, along with his  
exposed abdomen. His burns were healing, but slowly. In addition to his old injuries, and the small cut on his neck, it was painfully obvious that Manta had quite literally ripped him a new one. 

A large laceration to his head kept his vision blurry, courtesy of Manta striking him with the butt of his dagger. Several other deep cuts were prominent on his arms and chest. Slowly but surely, he was bleeding out. 

Arthur was exhausted, fading in and out of consciousness. 

“We aren’t finished yet Arthur. I promise your end is near. Until then, I’m going to need you to wake up.” 

No response. 

“I said, wake. UP!” Manta took his knife and plunged it into the stab wound that he had given him before. That got the reaction he was hoping for. Arthur’s head, previously hanging low, had shot up and he howled in pain. 

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

“What the-” the sensors on the ship went berserk. Yanking the knife out of Arthur, eliciting another pathetic groan, Manta rushed towards the scanners searching for whatever threat was nearby.

A small heat signature appeared on the scanners, and Manta cursed under his breath. No sooner had he placed his helmet back on, the ship was hit, and shot sideways. 

Luckily, Arthur was chained in place, so this only gave him a bit of whiplash. Manta wasn’t so lucky and slammed into the control panels. The window was suddenly filled with a bright blue light. Arthur spit out blood and smiled. Help had arrived. 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mera manipulated the water around her to rip a panel off the ship, allowing her to enter. Once inside, she ran as quickly and quietly as possible.  
Black Manta met her in the corridor leading to the main pilot’s deck of the ship. 

“Where is he?” she spat venomously.

“You wouldn’t be here if you didn’t know. Question is, how far are you willing to go to get him?”

Without hesitation, Mera used her hydrokinesis sending Black Manta out of the ship into a whirlpool similar to what she did to Orm, temporarily keeping him out of the way. 

She went down the path that Black Manta was previously blocking. “Arthur?” she called quietly.

“Mmm.” She heard a quiet groan echo and ran in the direction it came from. 

“Arthur!” She was absolutely sickened at his physical state. Mera immediately went to work, removing the cuffs from both his ankles and his arms.

“Mera I don’t think this is a good idea,” Arthur said. He wasn’t on his feet for more than a minute when he started to pitch forward. Mera caught his right arm, keeping him from falling. 

“Are you alright? I’m going to get you out of here right now.” Mera was concerned.

“I’ll live,” Arthur said.

He slung his right arm over Mera’s shoulders so she could help him move faster. They had barely made it out of the ship and into the open water when several plasma blasts shot at them in short bursts. Mera, still supporting Arthur, whipped around and shielded themselves with water. 

Black Manta was in the ship, right where Mera had created an entrance for herself. He tried to shoot them down, but to no avail. 

Mera reached deep down into herself to create a strong enough force of water to push the ship into the depths of the ocean, effectively trapping it, and Black Manta in the sand. He wasn’t dead, but that would have to do for now. She tightened her grip on Arthur.

Black Manta cursed the red headed bitch. She had ruined everything. It would take him forever to get his ship out of here, and even longer to plot for more revenge on her and Arthur. For the time being, he could do nothing but watch as the pair swam off into the distance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think :)  
> Also, before I post my next chapter, I'll most likely be going back and reformatting the existing chapters, because I don't like how they look at the moment.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first Ao3 work, but I have three in progress works on fanfiction at Hfiorella18, so go check it out! I know it's very short, but it's just the prologue. The rest of the chapters will be bulkier, I promise. Next chapter should be up soon, please let me know what you think!


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